Macklemore Leads Hip Hop in Youth Gay Pride Movement

Hip-hop icon and Grammy winner Macklemore has made a name of himself in the Gay Pride community over the years. The rapper, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, focuses a lot of his lyrics on real-life struggles and is an avid supporter of the Gay Pride movement through his music.

In 2014, Macklemore, a Seattle native, made a surprise appearance at a Gay Pride Parade in his hometown, hoping to shed some positive light on the youth Gay Pride movement. His entire campaign is about equality, and he is hoping that his music can help shed some light on that.

One of the four Grammys Macklemore won in 2014 was for the years Best Rap Song called “Same Love.” The song was a cry for equality and a stance on accepting gay people. He even states in his song that he has gay family members.

He also explains in the song that although he had thought he might be gay when he was younger, he’s not gay. In fact, he is married to a woman he dated for seven years.

“Of course, we play [“Same Love”] regardless of what we think the response is going to be. There’s been such ground made in terms of acceptance in the hip-hop community. What Barack Obama did, and what Frank Ocean did, and what, hopefully, ‘Same Love’ did is start a conversation.”

It did exactly that, and Macklemore and his music have blown up worldwide. He recently went on tour sharing his music and passions with fans all over America.

“To see 6,500 people put their hands up in support of equality is a beautiful thing. It’s honestly been the highlight of touring.”

Macklemore collaborated on the track with producer Ryan Lewis, who also shares the same passion of spreading awareness about equality, especially for younger generations. Lewis, who also grew up surrounded by a lot of gay people at a young age, has been a huge supporter of Macklemore’s campaign of spreading awareness.

“To perform that song in Texas and Idaho, in states that are classically conservative, and see a new generation of people sing so loudly, you’re reminded of the power that a musician has to proactively use their craft to change culture,” says Lewis.

The two have been on numerous talk shows, radio interviews, and on TVs all over the world, talking about their music and how its message can help change today’s society, day by day.

In a world where we are slowly starting to see the Gay community grow, having a rapper with the influence and voice of Macklemore talking about how it’s okay to be gay is massively positive for people everywhere. His hopes are that through his music he can successfully make the gay community a community that isn’t shunned, but rather can be accepted.

At Everlasting Footprint, we respect people’s personal decisions and we certainly applaud not just the Gay Pride youth movement, but also the GLTB Pride movement. Equal rights for everybody.

About Brandon Plotnick

Brandon Plotnick is a student at Florida State University, majoring in the Editing, Writing, and Media program in the English department, with a focus on sports journalism and media production. He has written for Florida State’s student newspaper, The FSView, as well as a Greek Life newsletter, The Odyssey, in his time at Florida State University. His dream is to cover South Florida professional athletics as a sports writer. Brandon was born and raised in Weston, Florida, and currently has a residence in South Florida.